Things to know before country music star Miranda Lambert paints Peoria platinum
Country music superstar Miranda Lambert hasn’t exactly avoided the central Illinois area in the past decade of national touring.
Lambert, 31, made two stops at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington — once in 2010 as the opener for Brad Paisley and then one year later as a headliner. She even traveled a little further downstate to Springfield to headline the Illinois State Fair in 2012.
But her only visit to the Peoria area came on July 3, 2005, at an unlikely venue — the Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria. The 21-year-old Lambert was touring in support of her debut album, “Kerosene,” which began as an inauspicious start of her country music career and ended with the album on top of the country music album charts, eventually being certified platinum.
The 2005 show at the Par-A-Dice cost a mere $15 and tickets were sold from the casino’s gift shop. Almost 10 years later, Lambert will return to the Peoria area for a sold-out arena show at the Peoria Civic Center on Feb. 21.
Between her tour and a stop at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, Lambert was not available for an interview prior to her Peoria show. Though she has been considered one of country’s biggest stars in recent years, Lambert might have just wrapped up her best year yet in the build-up and release of her latest album “Platinum.” Listed below are some of the highlights from that year.
• Lambert’s second single from “Platinum,” a duet with Carrie Underwood titled “Somethin’ Bad,” was first heard as a live performance at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards in May.
• Along with fellow country musician Eric Church, Lambert co-starred on the cover of “Rolling Stone” magazine’s first country music special issue in June.
• “Platinum,” released on June 3, rose to the top of the Billboard’s Top 200 album charts. It also hit the top spot on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart, cementing her status as the first artist in history to start a career with five No. 1 albums.
• The universal critical acclaim for “Platinum” spilled over into awards season, where Lambert earned Album of the Year from the Country Music Association Awards and Best Country Album from the Grammy Awards.
• Her four wins at the Country Music Association Awards gave her 11 career wins, the most ever for a female artist with that awards group.
• Dodge Ram announced a partnership with Lambert in November, yielding a fundraiser for MuttNation Foundation, Lambert’s charity to end animal cruelty. Lambert sang her song “Roots” in a Dodge Ram commercial last month.
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If you go
What: Miranda Lambert Certified Platinum Tour with special guests Justin Moore and RaeLynn.
When: Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Peoria Civic Center arena.
Cost: Limited tickets. $39.75 and $54.75. Tickets can be purchased at the Civic Center box office, Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster outlets or by calling 1-800-745-3000.
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Thomas Bruch can be reached at 686-3262 or tbruch@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThomasBruch.